Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1887-01-21


lie belongs to a race that we want
to wipe from the face of the earth.
The laws are liberal enough, with
the various degrees of homicide
and manslaughter, to protect indi'
viduals who do it in the heat OF
passion or under intense provOca-
tiOn."
"And abont women =
at the law is changed from
hanging to death by electricity then
it should aud would be made to
include women as we'll as men,
ANY discrimination between the
sexes would make the law uncOn
stitutlonal."
"Would there be any objection
to executing women with electric
typ
"NO, sir; there would not.
think there would no longer be the
same prejudice that there IS now
because hanging is a poor way o.
inflicting the death penalty"
GLOW would you use electricity 2
"Just see here" said DIR. South
wick, jumping up and seating him
self in an arm chair. "The con
demned man can sit naturally in a
chair like this, place his hands on
the metal a'ms and converse with
those around him. The metal plates
would be connected with power
ful dynamo and at the proper mo-
ment somebody in another room
would press button, close the cur
rent and the fatal shock would pass
through the body Of the subject
The charge would 90 straight
through the heart and lungs and
penetrate the system, death In.
stantly resulting. The expense Of
the apparatus with which TO exc
cute by electricity in this city would
be about $50. Connection could
be made with the electric light sta
ton, and the expense Of an execu.
ton thereafter would be of little
consequence. 1t would not cost
any more than>a cigar to kill a con
demned man after that. 1t would
not be necessary to maintain ex-
tensive and powerful machinery in
all the prisons, and 1t would be
vastly cheaper than hanging"
"You believe then in electricity ~
"EIectricity is the coming power.
Death is instantaneous and the
body is not deiaced. There is not
the morbidness of hanging, which
is a relic of barbarism. Just see a
recent execution here-Heman's l
think it was-when the hanged
man breathed fifteen minutes after
the drop fell. If that is instanta-
neOus death then | would rather
have a lingering DEATH"
"Haye you considered poisOns as
a means of executing criminalsP
.'Prussic acid has been suggest
ed, but neither that nor garroting
has met with any favor. A few
have advocated the guillotine, but
] thick it Is a barbarous mode Of
causing death. Hardly any one
favors hanging in preference to
the very system being
barbarOus, as are the method aud
paraphernalia used.'
$40 you expect that your plan
will he adopted p
81 sincerely hope it will. If it is
adopted by the coming legislature
other states will undoubtedly adopt
j., and / think tina: within two
years it will be adopted all over
the world. 1t would certainly be
better than obliterating the death
and in the case OF wO-
man there would be much less OBJ
lection to its operation than there
is to hanging
DIR. SOuthwick added that in
England the same question bad
arisen, but no satisfactory substi-
tute for hanging had been suggest
ed. One of the commissioners sug-
gested that various means be adopt
ed aud the condemned culprit be
given his choice of deaths.
State Senator Daniel III. McMil-
Ian has written a letter to the CON-
MISSION in which he says: "The
principal objection to the present
is that it is primitive in its
origin and barbsrous in its effects.
1t lacks every element of exactness
aud precision. tits absolutely i'm
possible to arrange a formula as to
the size Of the rope, the length OF
the drop or the heft of the weight
and the distance Gifts fall, as these
several elements must not only
depend upon the size and weight
but the general build and make mp
of the convict. The want of exact
ness in these several elements some
times leads TO the mutiIation of the
body by severing the head ; to I'M
necessary anG severe suffering by
reason OF the breaking of the rope,
and also to death by sufocatiOn
where there has been an improper
adjustment. All these things com
bine to make hanging by the neck
most brutal.
ii am heartily in favor of the APP
plication of electricity for the pur-
poses in question, for the reason
that 1t is simple, sure and painless.